If England imagined they were simply playing their opening warm-up match of the Ashes tour against Western Australia at the Waca tomorrow then it appears they were mistaken. If reports are to be believed, they have stepped into a full-blown audition for the Australia captaincy.

"Please welcome the new Australian captain Marcus North." It has to be admitted the idea does not have an immediate ring to it, but in some quarters the possibility that Western Australia's captain is in line for the top job is being seriously debated and not just in Fremantle after one drink too many.

Ricky Ponting is approaching the Ashes series with his captaincy under open scrutiny, but everybody knows the heir apparent has long been deemed to be Michael Clarke. No longer, it seems. Australia increasingly regards Clarke's supposed succession as far too cosy.

If Australia are truly considering North then they really are looking at all points of the compass. He is a competitive and street-smart cricketer but at 31 he is the sort of age when Australian players used to head into retirement. He is the ultimate journeyman in English county cricket, which to the Australian eye just makes matters worse.

He has played for a record-equalling five English counties. In his time, he has replaced Herschelle Gibbs at Durham, Brad Hodge at Lancashire, Travis Birt at Derbyshire, Hamish Marshall at Gloucestershire and Imran Tahir at Hampshire.

North laughed off the speculation after completing his preparations for the England match. Last week there were demands he should be dropped from the Test side; now he is the man upon whom Australia may depend. There is a strange flux in Australian cricket at the moment.

"I woke up this morning hearing some of these reports and I know it's an Ashes summer but there's got to be better stuff to write about," he said. "I do find it quite funny. Yesterday the feeling in the media is who can replace North and then the next minute I'm being touted as Australian captain. In an Ashes summer you can expect a bit of hype and a few stories but I think we're scraping the barrel there a bit. It's a bit of humour to me, you know it's just another story, it will be forgotten about tomorrow."

But Clarke's career has become increasingly troubled. There was the infamous dressing-room fight with Simon Katich, who took umbrage after a Test in Sydney last year when Clarke wanted to leave before the singing of the team song; his early departure from a New Zealand tour and subsequent ending of his two-year relationship with his celebrity fiancee Lara Bingle; and the fact that he could not buy a run on Australia's recent tour of India. There was also his implied criticism of Australian team-mates who played in the Indian Premier League and risked fatigue as a result and latterly his defeatist body language this week as Sri Lanka won an ODI in Melbourne thanks to a world-record ninth-wicket stand.

North dismissed suggestions that senior Australian players are disillusioned at the thought of Clarke leading the Test side if and when Ponting steps down. "I must be playing in a different team if some of these things are being talked about," he said. "I've been part of the Test side playing with Michael Clarke for the last 18 months and I see nothing but a very good leader, a very good player."

"I think obviously Ricky is here to stay as captain for a number of years yet and Michael Clarke's been the one that's being groomed as the next captain. Captaining Australia is something that certainly doesn't enter my thinking at all."

Paul Collingwood was the England player offered the chance to make political capital today out of Australia's discomfort. Wisely, as Andrew Strauss had done 24 hours earlier, he did not overplay his hand. "The more games they lose the better it is for us," he said. "The more games they lose, [the more] confidence levels may go down. But we're not going to read too much into it. We've got to prepare ourselves as a team to be in the best frame of mind going into the Test matches.

"It would be silly to let the foot off the gas because of the opposition going through whatever they are going through. But it's certainly a different position – something we're not used to when we come to Australia."